BERLIN CONGRESS
D
ESPITE the strict segregation of East and West, Berlin has since World War II adopted highly success- ful urban renewal techniques. It was appropriate therefore that this city should be the venue for the Congress of the International Federation for Housing and Planning, with its theme 'Urban Renewal and the Future of the City".
The congress took place from August 27 to September 2 and the meetings, attended by some 600 delegates, were held in the relatively new Kongresshalle, situated in the Tiergarten, West Berlin. This hall, which is principally a reinforced con- crete hyperbolic paraboloid built in an ideal
setting, was guarantee enough for a successful congress.
The official report of the congress will be published in due course and will contain recommendations agreed upon by the participants. What fol- lows is more of a commentary on what took place than a factual report and is stimulated by personal impres- sion.
One of the main points of the discussion, and one repeatedly re- ferred to by a number of speakers, was that urban reneval must be car- ried out within the context of the overall planning of the city and in
some
cases may have some signifi- cance in the planning of its region, as is the case with the metropolis of Tokyo.
The West Berlin planners have had the foresight to formulate their plans to include the East so that should both parts be unified politically the same will be true of its redevelop- ment.
Crash Programmes
The term Urban Renewal is very widely interpreted in town planning circles to embrace a range of activi- ties from slum clearance to the natural regeneration which inevitably occurs with time in most cities, as has happened in Hong Kong.
In order to differentiate, it is better to limit the use of the term to what might be described as "crash pro- grammes" of urban redevelopment, whereby specified areas which no longer cease to function as originally planned or which are a hindrance to the functioning of the whole or parts of a city are, to all intents and pur- poses, completely demolished and completely rebuilt to a new and
improved pattern of previous func-
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52
URBAN RENEWAL AND FUTURE OF THE CITY
by Professor W. G. Gregory, B. Arch, ARIBA
A report on the Berlin International Congress of the International Federation for Housing and Planning
tions and uses or to a new programme to meet the city's overall needs.
Generally areas that are physically decrepit, run-down or blighted or are a serious health hazard are the pri- mary objectives for urban renewal, but these are not exclusively residen- tial slums and could well be city centres, industrial sectors, or areas of mixed development,
In the East, the main concern is however with slum clearance, despite the more sophisticated title of urban renewal given to these operations, as is the case in Hong Kong, and is limited to a replacement of existing functions, regrouped, but with little improvement to the environment and with little regard to the overall de- velopment of the city or of the region.
The Singapore section of the report to the Congress showed some very ambitious schemes for slum clearance and redevelopment into amenity areas, hotel areas and areas of com- prehensive redevelopment.
The Congress opened in a spirit of idealism not the least dampened by the warning of Professor W. Duttmann of Berlin not to be carried away by Utopian concepts. He stressed the need to develop character in urban renewal schemes; existing character and as much as possible of that which was good or redeemable should be preserved.
This latter idea was developed later in the conference. when economic aspects were being discussed, par- ticularly with regard to domestic type buildings, the existing stock of which should be preserved as far as pos- sible; it being often cheaper to modernise old houses and apartments (they were built to last!) than replace them. In any case the increasing demand for new dwelling units throughout the world, due to ex- panding populations, decay of exist- ing buildings and in some cases partly because of improved standards of living, was outstripping the capacity to meet it, to an ever increasing extent,
Other speakers also stressed the consider environmental
need
to
aspects in urban renewal projects; it was not sufficient to produce func- tionally efficient cities, but to make them more satisfying places in which to live, work and to pursue happiness.
Cultural Fulfilment
The migration of populations to cities is now an accepted phenomena, more marked than anywhere in the cities of the East, and one which one must come to accept and plan for, since it is in the cities that man can find his cultural fulfilment. The opportunity for this fulfilment must not be denied him, everyone being entitled, as Professor G. A. Wissink of the Netherlands observed, to the pursuit of human happiness to the utmost, even if some people get hurt in the process and find actuality falls short of expectations.
The phenomenon of expanding cities obviously has great bearing on the approach to urban renewal, one which is not always accepted by those concerned with it. Professor Wissink also pointed out that each city was unique in itself and when it came to urban renewal, it should be approach- ed as such and appropriate methods should be found for the particular circumstance. Too many planners sought stock solutions, applying them out of context with disastrous results.
Thus urban renewal must not be expected to be the panacea for all situations and may take numerous forms. In this context Mr. G. Conditt of Vienna, pointed out that urban renewal had been taking place throughout history, the only difference to-day being that it was very much speeded up. Where old processes were appropriate they should still be applied, and where necessary, new ones found.
In general, it was agreed that en- vironmental considerations were of great importance and should not be lost sight of in the enthusiasm which the prospects of urban renewal offer in terms of hygiene and efficient
cities.
The same may be said of the social implications and much discussion of
Far East Architect & Builder November, 1967